Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Nuvole (part 3)

"Stupid chains!" I screamed, slamming my magical shackles against
the wall."Stupid Felix!”Bang.“Stupid
Andromeda!” Bang.“Stupid castle!”Bang.“Everything is so stupid!"
Rage was overwhelming all my senses. All I could do was scream and bash my
chains against the wall, which only served to bruise my wrist. But I didn't
care. The king, Felix, lied to me. He kidnapped my little sister, hurt her
even. Of course I wanted revenge. I wanted to drive a sword through his cold,
lying heart. But at the moment, more than anything, I wanted to break my sick
sister out of the dreary cell and get her to safety. "ARGH!" I
yelled as I threw a stone against the wall. Suddenly I felt a burning pain in
my chest.
"Will you quit your yelling, foolish boy?" I met the evil, smiling
glare of Andromeda. "I'm glad you are being made to suffer but your
screaming is quite annoying."
I took a deep breath and calmed down before I answered, "Fine, I'll quiet
down." I looked down and pretended she had broken my confidence.
She laughed an evil laugh that chilled me to my bone. I knew this woman
could kill me with a snap of her finger, and as much as I hated it, until I
broke out of here, I was going to have to pretend to obey. "That's better.
And just so you don't try anything, both the cell you are in and the chains you
wear will suppress your power. So, unless you somehow manage to gather as much
power as an Ice Dragon – which, by the way, have been dead for millennium
- you won't be breaking out any time soon." And on that happy note,
Andromeda left.
Now that my head was clear and I could think straight, strategies started
popping into my head. I took a look at my surroundings. Three guards.
Apparently Andromeda didn't trust just the shackles to keep me imprisoned.
"E-excuse me, sir." I waved to one of the guards. He was probably
in his thirties. To him twenty was still probably considered a kid.
"W-water." I put on my best I'm
just an innocent boy who is being hurt by these people face. Apparently it
worked.
"Listen kid. I don't know what you did to deserve this. It just seems
wrong to me. But I can't get you some water. I'm under strict orders from Lady
Andromed-"
I faked pain at the sound of her name. "P-please don't talk about her.
Sh-she scares me." I huddled into a corner and started shivering. It
wasn't hard to do.It was pretty cold
down here, even for me.
The guard’s brow furrowed with concern. "Hey, I'm sorry. Regulus, I
know she said not to, but I think we should get the boy some water. He's just a
kid."
"I know, Mercer, but what do you think she would do to us if we open
that cage?"
"That's only if she finds out though. Yashir, come on, you think the
kid deserves a little something to drink don't you?"
Yashir shrugged, "I don't care what you do. I'm bored and only here ‘cause
I get paid."
"Great, then I'm getting the kid something to drink." I don't know
why he had to ask all his friends before he got me some water, but I didn't
care. He would have to open the cage to give me the water. I just hoped I could
take on three armed soldiers.
Mercer came walking back in the room with a small mug of water, took the
keys off his belt, and walked into the cage leaving the door wide open.
"Here, kid." He started to hand me the water but realized I was
shackled to the floor. He sighed and took out another key.
I decided this was the stupidest guard on the surface of Incantevole, but
hey...it worked for me.
He unlocked my chains and I slid my hands out of the shackles. As soon as my
hands were free, I felt the power rush back into me. Acting like I was taking
the water, I pushed the man back with a gust of wind, causing him to crash into
a wall and pass out. I got up and sprinted out of the cage. Yashir and Regulus
moved to block my way, each with a hand resting on the hilt of their swords.
"You’re not human," Regulus said with a hint of fear.
"Nah, of course not."
Yashir sighed. "I don't get paid enough for this. Listen kid, get back
in the cage or we will have to kill you."
I laughed. "Just try."
They both came at me. They were faster than I had thought and one cut the
side of my leg and the other cut my arm. I winced in pain. "Listen, we are
some of the king’s best swordsmen. I really don't want to kill you," Yashir
pleaded.
"Well, too bad," I said, "’cause I'm going to save my
sister!" I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and froze them both in
place just as they had charged me. I opened my eyes to a frozen sword at my
neck and let out a nervous laugh. "Well that was lucky." I slipped
past them and limped up the long, stone corridor. The cut to my leg and arm
were deeper than I thought. I would have to be more careful if I wanted to save
Nairi.
I made it to the top of the stairs and listened. "I wish something
interesting would happen." A deep male voice said from somewhere to the
right.
"I know what you mean. This is so boring. What is the point of guarding
the top of an underground cell that has three guards already guarding it from
inside," another, more gravely, male voice said from the left. I slipped
out and saw them leaning on the wall. Both their eyes were closed. Idiots,
I thought. I stood up and stupid me couldn't resist the urge.
"I know what you mean. It's not like he is gonna escape, beat his three
guards, and make it here."
"Exactly!" they said opening their eyes, turning to look at each
other, and seeing me.
"Hello, I would ask how your day is but I should probably run." I
ran past them and immediately felt a searing pain in my shoulder. I didn't dare
look but I knew an arrow was lodged there.
I started zigzagging, making for a harder target. Not that that would help because
at that moment one of the guards yelled "Hey, One of the prisoners is
escaping. Help!"
In a flash, guards filled the open court yard. I muttered a curse under my
breath as they blocked all the exits. I looked around and realized the prison
was to my left, still encased in ice. "Yes." I mumbled, though they
were blocking that exit too. At that moment I did the safest and most logical
thing I could think of, I charged the wall of guards blocking the prison exit.
Everyone seemed surprised I headed that way, but not long. I ran into them.
Friendly tip: swords hurt...A lot!
I got past them with barely my life. I dodged under their feet, was stabbed
in the arm, received a glancing blow to my face, was whacked in the head with a
sword hilt, and felt the sting three arrows pierce my body. But hey, I'm alive.
I ran to the wall of ice and heard someone say, "Ha, we've got him
now."Yeah, right, I thought as I opened a passage in the ice and sealed it
behind me as I ran. In your face!
I ran till I saw Nairi's cell. She was lying there, pale and breathing heavy,
with puss oozing from huge boils on her arm. "N-Nairi." I said
wincing as the pain caught up with me. "You okay?" Her eyes opened
and they looked kind of glazed over.
"N-Nuvole?"
"Yeah, it's me. I'm getting you out of here."
"Really?" She was talking but didn't really seem to be there.
"Yeah, come on." Despite being near death and having a gash in my
arm, I picked up Nairi, froze the water in between the bricks of the prison, weakening
the mortar between them. Throwing a gust of wind towards the wall, I blasted a
hole to the outside. "I can't believe that...that worked." I panted
and walked to freedom cradling my baby sister in my arms.I heard the sounds of utter failure
inside the walls of the city. Which, despite all my pain and being near death,
made me smile in triumph
My triumph was short lived. About a mile from the castle, everything went horribly
wrong. I heard the sound of howling death hounds, which sent a chill down my
spine. I ignored all my pain and ran - ran as fast as my body would go. I only
thought about protecting my little sister. I don’t know how long I forced my
legs to keep moving, but eventually my body could take no more. I fell to the
ground, Nairi falling on top of me, pushing the arrows deeper into me. I heard
the panting of the hounds and knew I was going to die. I didn't care. The only
thing that wrenched my heart was that my sister would die too, my little
sister. I saw the claws and smelt the disgusting stench of the death hounds as they
were circle around us. I closed my eyes and suddenly a blast of heat swept over
me.
"Don't touch her!" Someone yelled in rage. I opened my eyes to see
a tall, red-haired figure standing over my sister. Fire raged around his fist
as he killed every last one of the death hounds.
As soon as they were gone he bent down and touched Nairi's forehead. His
face was a mix of worry, relief, and anger. He sighed, "I'm glad you’re
okay, Shorty." He picked her up, and I heard footsteps coming.
A girl’s voice spoke first, "Adonis, what’s…" She stopped
mid-sentence. "Nairi! She's okay!"
"Yeah," the red head, Adonis, said."I think this guy helped
her. You might wanna do something. He looks almost dead." He said it like
he could care less about what happened to me.
I felt someone touch my wounds with something cold which caused my vision to
blur and I nearly passed out. I was vaguely aware of being carried. I kept fading
in and out of consciousness. They laid me on something hard and I heard the
girl say, "I'll have to pull the arrows out, but I'm not Anakis. I don't
know if I should."
"I say pull 'em out and wait and see."
"Adonis, that's terrible."
"What, it's not like he is going to get any better with arrows
protruding from his back."
The girl sighed and I felt a pain shoot through my lower back. Just before
everything went completely black, I heard Adonis say, "See Kaymele, was
that so hard?"